Comics, film have symbiotic relationship

Comic and films, films and comics — the line between them grows ever thinner. Companies on both end of the equation have found in recent years that a symbiotic relationship between the two media seems to be the path to a brighter financial future. Take DC Comics’ brand-new adaptation of author Stieg Larsson’s acclaimed novel “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” which boasts two film versions. Monarch Cards & Comics’ Ed Katschke thinks the graphic novel is a “perfect translation” of the original work.

“Writer Denise Mina and artists Leonardo Manco and Andrea Mutti have done a wonderful job at taking Larsson’s book and transforming it into comic gold,” he said. “Crusading reporter Mikael Blomkvist looks into the cold case of a missing teenage girl from the 1960s alongside punk hacker Lisbeth Salander, an intriguing character who has secrets of her own. The original novel is filled with twists and turns as Blomkvist gets closer and closer to the end of his investigation and Mina has managed to compress a good deal of information into a very readable and entertaining form. This 144-page ‘Volume 1’ hardback covers roughly the first third of the novel and ends up matching or even surpassing the movie versions in terms of excellence in adaptation. Perfect for fans of the original book or new readers looking to see what all the fuss is about.”

And then there’s that little sequel film called “Iron Man 3” due in May; Marvel Comics is no slouch in the promotional department as it reboots the titular hero’s comic and infuses it with themes found in the coming movie.

“Iron Man No. 1 by writer Kieron Gillen and artist Greg Land is a fresh start for everyone’s favorite armored Avenger,” Katschke said. “Picking up roughly where the Avengers vs. X-Men miniseries left off, the new title starts its exploration into the discovery of faith that Stark was forced to accept during that story. Gillen also picks up the old plot threads left over from Warren Ellis’ groundbreaking Extremis storyline — also the source material for next summer’s ‘Iron Man 3’ — and uses them to good effect. Land has often been accused for a style a little too dependent on his light box, but this first issue captures Iron Man’s glamorous, high-tech world of sleek machines and beautiful women quite effectively, although there are pages that do seem a bit rushed and less polished than what we are used to from him. All in all, it’s a good start in the next chapter of Stark’s life.”

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on Tuesday, November 13th, 2012 at 11:37 am and is filed under Comics, Star.
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Comics Rack

DC delays comic in wake of shootings

Some days, you just can’t buy a Batman comic. “Out of respect for the victims and families in Aurora,” DC Comics made an official request to all comic retailers to postpone the sale of Batman Incorporated No. 3 for one month, citing “content that may be perceived as insensitive in light of recent events.” Comic books shops across the nation had already received the issue in question, making the industry giant’s concerns more a request than an edict; presumably, no sanctions will be imposed on any retailer that sells the book before the new on-sale date of Aug. 22.

“While I am as horrified as the next person by the event in Colorado last week, I have to confess that I see little connection between James Holmes’ killing spree and the Batman franchise, movie or comics,” said Ed Katschke of Monarch Cards & Comics. “This issue of Batman Incorporated has absolutely nothing within its pages that refers directly or indirectly to any sort of civilian massacre. This leads me to suspect that DC is either oversensitive to the point of being ridiculous or cynically trying to raise public interest in its comics through an empty gesture. Rather than offer up a fictional character as a sacrificial goat to this tragedy, I suggest we lay the blame squarely at the feet of its perpetrator.”

Jim Collins of JC’s Comic Stop concurs.

“I saw no reason to delay the book,” he said. “In fact, we have ours out for sale. They said it was out of respect for the victims, but if Warner/DC wanted to do something out of respect for the victims, how about not having ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ shown for the rest of that weekend or delay it for a month? Oh, that’s right, they would have lost hundreds of millions at the box office, so make the comic shop the ones you punish with a comic that sells, what, 60,000 copies? Having us not put the comic out is meaningless. I’ve had no one inquire about the comic and, by the way, it’s far less violent than the recent issue of Batman: The Dark Knight that has children kidnapped and tortured.”

With the shooter’s alleged claim to be a certain famous Bat-villain, one wonders what that might mean for an upcoming high-profile Joker story in October’s Batman No. 13. Time will tell just how sensitive the venerable company truly is — or how lucrative its native homicidal maniac can be.

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on Tuesday, July 31st, 2012 at 10:50 am and is filed under Comics, Star.
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Comics Rack

DC preps fans for new round of Batmania

If you’re a fan of a comics character with a new film heading into theaters, you just have to love the synergy that comes into play between comics and celluloid as the movie countdown begins. While the rest of the world reels in the throes of passion for “The Avengers,” DC Comics is working feverishly to insure their boy Batman is well-covered in print before “The Dark Knight Rises” hits screens in July. Night of the Owls, a multi-issue crossover between almost all of the Batman titles — 10 of them — spreads its wings to reinforce the Bat-brand in the hearts and minds of consumers.

“This is the first major league crossover that DC has attempted since the advent of the New 52, and it is particularly fitting that it should spread out among the Batman family as these tend to be tighter-knit than other books in the DC Universe,” said Ed Katschke of Monarch Cards & Comics. “The story follows the events of one tragic night in Gotham City as a secret cabal called the Court of Owls attempts to cement its control over the city by sending its undead assassins out to murder prominent citizens. The call to arms goes out to all Batman allies and they scramble across the city trying to save as many targets as they can. It’s a simple yet reliable plot point and one that successfully brings the many disparate segments of the Batman family together in a coherent and exciting way. The best thing of all? You don’t have to read all of the tie-ins to follow the main story — that’s being covered in Batman — but you’ll miss a rare treat if you don’t check out at least a few of the myriad chapters.”

The crossover titles include Batman and Robin, Nightwing, Batwing, Catwoman, Batgirl, Birds of Prey and others. DC is also promoting the May 23 return of superstar writer Grant Morrison to the Batman stable with a new Batman, Incorporated No. 1 and is busy soliciting loads of “The Dark Knight Rises” busts, statues and other merchandise through its in-house collectibles brand DC Direct.

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on Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 at 11:01 am and is filed under Comics, Star.
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Lighting the Fuse

Colonial cool (It takes a Village)

You and I are unlikely to agree on the definition of what makes something “cool,” but I lean on the definition offered by music critic Dave Marsh: “Cool is defined by that which expends the least amount of energy defining itself.” In other words, the harder you try to be cool, the less likely you are to achieve your goal.

During my time in other cities, I searched for and usually found a cool part of town, somewhere to park the car and spend a few hours hanging out and indulging my interests. In Pittsburgh, that place was Squirrel Hill, with its one-of-a-kind restaurants, bookstores, small movie theater and quirky retailers. During my brief West Coast stint, I fell in love with Sausalito, the town across the bay from San Francisco with its breathtaking views and eateries. In Washington, D.C., I would spend hours in Georgetown, which provided block after block of windows and opportunities for discovery. In south Florida, I would spend Saturdays in Las Olas, a long retail and entertainment strip that for me was like a greatest hits of the previous cities I explored.

These places provide a destination for solo exploration or group fun. They can be modest, and may not qualify as hip, but to me, they were endlessly cool. There is no single element that makes them cool; it is the sum of the individual parts that creates an atmosphere and flavor of interest.

In Toledo, the city that forged my baseline for such things, I used to enjoy trips to Westgate. Just steps from each other, Boogie Records and Thackeray’s Books provided the anchor for an afternoon of browsing and catching up with friends in the pre-Facebook era.

But we know what happened to that lineup.

Recently, I discovered another cool place to park the car and spend some time. I feel compelled to defend my praise of Colonial Village Plaza (4400 Heatherdowns Blvd. at Key Street) as a middle-age father-of-two’s choice. It’s not as restaurant and event driven as the Blarney-anchored area around Fifth Third Field or as gallery heavy as the Warehouse District or as music driven as Adams Street (or the Frankie’s domain on the East Side) and it is certainly not as hip as whatever place the kids know about that is so far beyond my awareness it might as well be on Mars. But the Colonial Village Plaza has filled itself with some of the types of places I dig. (“Dig,” kids, means “appreciate and like.”)

The main attraction at Colonial Village Plaza is Monarch Cards & Comics. I would browse the racks at Monarch back when it was on Airport Highway. Owner Steve Shufritz moved the store to Colonial Village Plaza in 1995.

He said he has seen the shopping center slowly fill in and become a nighttime destination.

“You can’t buy a parking space at this end at night,” Shufritz said. “Between Burger Bar 419, Shawn’s and American Martial Arts, there is always a crowd of people. We get a lot of what we call ‘tourists,’ people waiting for a seat at one of the restaurants who normally might not come into a comic book store. But they look around, see what we have and hopefully spread the word.”

Burger Bar 419 is an especially exciting addition to Colonial Village Plaza. A restaurant with the gourmet choices and carefully prepared sandwiches featured at Burger Bar 419 should be enough to make even the most ardent vegetarian’s mouth water. The restaurant even features three ketchup choices (try the spicy berry) to top such burgers as the Carolina BBQ (barbecue sauce, cheddar cheese, sweet and tangy slaw, topped with fried onion strings); The Heater (romaine lettuce, tomato, onion, pepper jack cheese, green chilis, grilled jalapenos and serranos); the Musty Have (Bibb lettuce, grilled tomato, Taleggio cheese, portabella mushrooms and balsamic glazed red onion); and the Three Little Pigs (ground pork, smoked cheddar, barbecue pork shoulder, with sweet and tangy slaw). There are more than a dozen such creations; the owners could provide a public service by adding a “sampler platter” to the menu that would allow diners to try wedges of four or five specialty burgers.

If you feel the need to stretch your legs and walk off your burger, the Encore used bookstore offers a neat selection of books at reasonable prices. There is also a Dollar General that seems to have twice as much stuff on display as its square footage should allow.

Adding to the shopping convenience are a Wixey Bakery and a Meats and More store, which features an exceptional wine cave where you can get a bottle to take home and enjoy with your used books and new comics.

And if you run out of cash for all these options, there’s a Key Bank branch within easy walking distance.

If Colonial Village Plaza adds any kind of CD or record store to go with Monarch and Encore, it would have a pop culture triple crown to go with its other claims to fame.

Like Toledo itself, the shopping plaza is humble, diverse and a down-to-earth pleasure to spend time in. It may not have Sausalito’s view, Georgetown’s urbane atmosphere or the casual hip of Squirrel Hill, but for a quick park, shop and eat trip not based on clothes and fashion, Colonial Village Plaza is the recommended destination.

DC cancels some new titles, adds others

September of 2011 brought a massive line-wide change to DC Comics, promoted as the “New 52.” In subsequent months, the bold relaunch of the company’s entire portfolio of properties awarded DC the top position in industry sales and market share, but reality seems to be setting in with the recent announcement of cancellations among its 52 core comic series.

“Men of War,” “Mister Terrific,” “OMAC,” “Hawk and Dove,” “Blackhawk” and “Static Shock” will all end after less than a year’s worth of issues. Some of the titles represent DC’s experiment in thematic and racial diversification in their output.

“DC’s first round of cancellations of ‘New 52’ titles was not only not surprising, but planned in advance by DC,” said Ed Katschke of Monarch Cards & Comics. “Any company debuting 52 new titles in a single month is clearly utilizing a ‘throw mud at the wall and see what sticks’ strategy of publishing and would naturally assume that not everything would succeed. The cancellations have very little bearing on my store as they are naturally the titles that are selling the least. Although, on a personal note, I am sorry to see both ‘OMAC’ and ‘Static Shock’ go the way of the dodo.”

But with the note of endings comes the company’s news of six additions to its line: “Batman Incorporated,” “Earth 2,” “World’s Finest,” “Dial H,” “G.I. Combat” and “The Ravagers.” One of the titles, “Earth 2,” brings DC’s popular multiple-universes theme back into play, while “Dial H” brings the comics debut of novelist China Miéville.

“I’m really excited about the replacement titles DC has lined up for April,” Katschke said. “I think ‘Earth 2’ and ‘World’s Finest’ will do particularly well, considering the popularity among comic fans of DC’s Golden Age characters who will be featured prominently in both titles. ‘Batman Incorporated,’ continuing writer Grant Morrison’s critically and commercially successful Batman story line, should continue its popularity as well. The other titles seem to fit the profile of some of the titles being canceled and I don’t expect for them to have quite as wide an audience, but you have to give DC credit for trying to produce alternatives to the same old style of superhero comics.”

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Comics

Two ‘incredible journeys’ remembered

Two veteran comic book creators are spotlighted this week with the release of a deluxe collection that may have slipped under the radar. Vertigo, DC Comics’ mature-readers imprint, continues to produce quality projects that do not feature brightly colored superheroes, but do push the boundaries of the art form in often shocking ways.

“Back in 2004, writer/wunderkind Grant Morrison collaborated with the then-relatively new artist Frank Quitely to produce the miniseries ‘WE3’,” said Ed Katschke of Monarch Cards & Comics. “‘WE3’ is a simultaneously heartbreaking and charming science fiction reworking of the children’s classic ‘The Incredible Journey.’ In this version, we follow the adventures of a dog, a cat and a rabbit who have been abducted from their loving homes and mercilessly grafted onto cyborg death machines by a shadowy government program. The new hardcover version is beautifully produced, showcasing Quitely’s art perfectly. It also contains 10 brand-new story pages and another 25 pages of sketchbook and development material. I defy anyone to read this work without getting choked up by its end.”

Speaking of a journey’s end, Katschke, a veteran of more than a few comic book industry upheavals, takes a moment to reflect on what he calls “The End of the DC Universe.”

“Today brings the last issues of the outgoing DC Universe titles before the big re-launch begins next week. The final issues of ‘Action Comics,’ ‘Batman Incorporated,’ ‘Batman: The Dark Knight,’ ‘Gotham City Sirens,’ ‘Green Arrow,’ ‘Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors,’ ‘JSA,’ and ‘Teen Titans’ are shipping along with another half-dozen miniseries and one-shots. I know that most of these books will still exist in one form or another, but it still feels like we will be closing the door on an era. I’m finding it hard to get too sentimental considering that most of the titles listed above have been at their lowest ebbs since the turn of the century, but I still thought it deserved some reverent mention. Let’s have a quick moment of silence as the line of continuity starting with 1985’s ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ limps into limbo, never to be heard from again.”

‘Gotham City 14 Miles’ on Amazon

“Gotham City 14 Miles,” the book of essays about the 1960s “Batman” TV show (edited by yours truly and featuring a number of local authors, including TFP Star Editor in Chief Michael S. Miller), is now available for sale on Amazon.com. This brings it to an even wider audience and everyone involved in the project is looking forward to hearing feedback through Amazon’s review function. This is a great time for fans of the show, with the 45th anniversary this year and now more availibility for the first real critical examination of “Batman ’66.”

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on Monday, August 29th, 2011 at 10:36 am and is filed under Comics, Star.
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Comics

Beard: Literary ‘League’ gets trippy new sequel

You might have thought it impossible for writer Alan Moore to cram any more literary and pop culture references into his infamous “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” comic series; his newest volume, “Century: 1969,” will prove you wrong. Literally crawling with late 1960s nods, cameos, walk-ons and full-blown appearances, the comic “takes you down” on an acid trip of debauchery, devilment and deep, deep British slang.

“Who would have ever guessed that a comic which started off as a simple and novel idea would slowly blossom into a fascinating character study of the effects of time and history on an immortal mind, as well as a rip-snorting commentary of the previous century through the eyes of its pop culture?” asked Monarch Card and Comics’ Ed Katschke. “‘Century’ focuses on three different time periods — 1910, 1969 and 2009. The second chapter of this mammoth undertaking continues the story started in the first chapter, but from nearly 60 years later. Mina Murray, Alan Quartermain, and the always mysterious Orlando have entered the swinging ’60s and are hot on the tail of an evil magician who just may be working toward the birth of a new antichrist and the end of the world. Their adventure takes us through the — literally — high times of ’60s Britain, complete with all of the obvious and buried pop culture references which make this such a fun read, but beneath the surface we are seeing the gradual disintegration of the Victorian society which made imperialistic Britain one of the largest and most powerful nations in the world.

“Moore’s cultural observations don’t stop with background references, but also lie in the terrible toll that immortality has begun to take on Mina Murray, who is at once gripped by a desire to stay true to the woman she was, but terribly afraid of becoming irrelevant in the face of changing times. Her struggle to balance her mortal existence with her immortal one is fascinating and made more so by her desperate struggle to save the world while dealing with it.”

Katschke’s also quick to observe that “League” isn’t for all readers; the book’s a virtual lexicon of nudity, sex, gutter language and subversive ideas — but it wouldn’t be the brainchild of Alan Moore without that. The writer’s no-holds-barred approach to the medium delivers a product unlike anything else on the stands, and “Century: 1969” is absolutely no exception.

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on Thursday, August 4th, 2011 at 2:54 pm and is filed under Comics, Star.
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Comics

Cap’s long and winding road

Captain America, Marvel Comics’ original patriotic hero, has got it goin’ on with a big-budget film debuting July 22, but pity poor Bucky, his former sidekick. Created in 1941, Bucky was unceremoniously killed to add pathos to Cap’s 1960s revival, but revived just a few short years ago to take up the famous shield when Cap himself was killed. Now he’s dead again. Killed in last month’s “Fear Itself” No. 3, Bucky’s death paves the way for Cap to come back with a new No. 1 … and that big-budget film. Got all that?

“One of the first things writer Ed Brubaker did when he took on the job as the main Captain America scribe was to reintroduce Bucky Barnes, Cap’s WWII partner, to modern audiences,” said Monarch Cards and Comics’ Ed Katschke. “At the time, this was something of a controversy among comic fans as Bucky was one of the few superheroes to die and stay dead. Despite initial resistance to the idea, fandom has since embraced Bucky’s return, especially since his promotion to the star-spangled tights.”

But big, splashy movies do funny things to comic book publishers. It makes them want to flood the racks with product in the hopes that the people who’ll see — and hopefully enjoy — the films will want to seek out the source material. And that means Captain America must be Steve Rogers, and Steve must have a new, clean start that welcomes potential new consumers.

“Of course, with the movie coming out and everything, it was no great surprise that Steve Rogers was scheduled to once again don the mantle of Captain America,” Katschke said. “It’s a role he was frankly born to play and even when he wasn’t carrying the shield he never really stopped fulfilling that role. The big surprise for me was Marvel killing Bucky once again to make room for Roger’s return.

“I was actually looking forward to two Captain Americas running around, but naturally if I had the choice then Rogers would be the one to carry the shield. The creative team behind the first story arc of the new ‘Captain America’ No. 1 includes regular Cap writer Ed Brubaker as well as award-winning artist Steve McNiven, perhaps best known to comic fans as the artist behind ‘Civil War’.”

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on Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 at 6:20 pm and is filed under Comics, Star.
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Comics

Dark Knight makes room for the ladies

Batman seems to be faring better than some of his comic compatriots in the upcoming relaunch of DC Comics’ entire line of publications. Perhaps the only true sad note comes with the announcement that Scottish-born writer Grant Morrison, who has taken the Dark Knight to new heights in the past five years, will be flitting to other DC projects.

“One of the few trepidations I initially had concerning the upcoming DC relaunch was the disposition of the Batman family of titles,” he said. “Grant Morrison has been the driving creative force behind Batman since 2006’s ‘Batman & Son’ storyline and I didn’t want to see all of the effort he had put into the character arbitrarily wiped away because the rest of the DC line wasn’t faring as well. Thankfully, Morrison’s take on Batman is, by all accounts, remaining mostly intact and while he’s not set to write any Bat-related titles we have the sweet promise of the return of his recent hit, ‘Batman Incorporated,’ to look forward to in 2012.”

Katschke also applauds the news of the prominent place the ladies in Batman’s life will hold in the new DC universe. “The two Bat-related titles that I am most looking forward to are ‘Batgirl’ and ‘Batwoman’,” he said. “Batgirl has always been one of my favorite characters, whether as the crime-fighting Dominoed Dare-doll or as the information/computer guru to the super-heroes known as Oracle. I’m excited to see how noted Barbara Gordon writer Gail Simone not only gets Babs back on her feet — she’s been in a wheelchair for years following an unfortunate altercation with The Joker — but how she will fit in with this daring new continuity and the villains she’ll be facing.

“Batwoman is one of the best new/revamped characters to come out of DC during the last couple of years. She’s a fascinating and multifaceted addition to the Batman family. I’ve been champing at the bit to find out more about her and her supporting cast, and finally seeing the debut of her solo series after months of delays is exciting indeed. Of course, the fact that it is writer-artist J.H. Williams III bringing his amazingly distinctive illustrative style to the character makes the wait even harder to bear.”

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on Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 at 12:14 pm and is filed under Comics, Star.
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Comics

Free Comic Book Day returns

Ah, spring, when a fanboy’s heart turns to thoughts of Free Comic Book Day. That’s right, True Believers — that special day at comic shops across the nation is once again upon us May 7, a day when life is good and the comics are free. What’s in store for all good Toledo comic fans this year? How about Thor, Captain America, Green Lantern and … Adam West?

Ed Katschke of Monarch Cards and Comics can’t wait to rattle off his picks for Free Comic Book Day 2011, all of which will be offered in his shop.

“With ’Captain America-Thor: The Mighty Fighting Avengers,’ Marvel makes the predictable move this year and uses Captain America and Thor for its main Free Comic Book Day offering,” he said. “The storyline, written by Roger Langridge and illustrated by Chris Samnee, is a charming bit of whimsy and features the upcoming movie versions of our heroes. Cap and Thor get magically whisked to aid King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table against one of Loki’s typically malignant plots. There is also a five-page back up story spotlighting Marvel’s hit Disney cartoon show, ‘Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.’ All in all a great all-ages Marvel package!

“In the ‘Green Lantern-Flashpoint Special Edition,’ DC Comics follows the same basic formula as Marvel: build your main Free Comic Book Day offering around your upcoming movie event. In this case, we get a reprint of ‘Green Lantern’ No. 30, written by DC wunderkind Geoff Johns and illustrated by Ivan Reis, which features a truncated version of Green Lantern’s secret origin. The backup story is a special sneak preview of DC’s big summer storyline event, ‘Flashpoint,’ which is also written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Andy Kubert.”

The 83-year old Adam West gets his own comic in July and a sneak preview of “The Mis-Adventures of Adam West” on Free Comic Book Day. This is not about Batman or any of the other roles he’s played, but a fictional story about West that involves time travel and other shenanigans.

This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 at 11:51 am and is filed under Comics.
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